Cigarette-dispensing machine



Feb. 11, 1930. c, K, s s' I 1,746,501

CIGARETTE DI SPENSING MACHINE Original Filed June 9, 1927 Patented Feb.11, 1930 PATENT OFFICE CHRIST K. S TAMAS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGANCIGARETTE-DISPENSING MACHINE Application filed June 9, 1927, Serial No.197,527. Renewed January 3, 1930.

The present invention relates to mechanisms for dispensing or deliveringcigarettes one at a time, or one cigarette at each rotation or partialrotation of .the operating T shaft, as may be determined in designingthe device.

It is the prime purpose of this invention to furnish in a small,compact, neat and at tractive form, a cigarette dispensing device whichmay be placed in any desired location,

and will efficiently function to deliver a cigarette at each actuationof the mechanism. Anotherobject is to provide a device of this characterin the form of anattractive counter display, adapted to hold aconsiderable quantity of cigarettes, and with convenient meansforreloading the device from time to time; Another object is to provide adevice of the kind described, adapted to deliver the cigarettes throughthe top of the housing in stead of through the bottom as conventionallydone.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a frontal elevation, a section being brokenout at the left hand side to show the arrangement of the humidifyingelement and the friction spring for the filler case; a .30" Figure 2 isa longitudinal vertical section; a i Figure 3 is a detail of the fillercase;

Figure 4, is a horizontal section on the line 4:-4: of Figure 2; g

'Figures 5and 6 are details of the fluted cigarette cylinder.

This invention comprises a suitable base 1 upon which is mounted acylindrical cigavrette wheel housingQ having a communicating andupwardly extending and connected cigarette casing, housing orcontainer3, having a glass window 17 inits front face. A door 18 is hinged to theupper end of this housing 3. The housing 2 is provided atits upper andfrontal portion with a transverse cigarette delivery slot 4 forwithdrawing the cigarettes 5 one at a time as they are delivered by themachine, the said slot 4 being laterally widened at opposite medialpoints to form the finger recesses 6. Within time one of the grooves 13is turned out diof the knob 12, the cigarette referred to as the housing2 is journaled the cigarette delivery or feed wheel 7, the shaft 8 ofthe wheel having bearings 9 in the opposite sides 10 of the housing, andone end 11 of the shaft being extended laterally through the housing andending in the finger knob 12 for manipulating the machine.

The periphery of the cigarette wheel 7 r is provided with a number oftransverse cigarette grooves 13 which are adapted to successively passunder and in alignment with the cigarette slot 4 of the housing, as thewheel 7 is rotated. These grooves are also provided with lateralcut-outs to form finger recesses 6 which register with the fingerrecesses 6 ofthe slot 4 of the housing 2. The wheel 7 is here shown withfour grooves 13 located ninety degrees apart, and the feature of thisarrangement is that at the exact rectly underneath the cigarette slot 4,and stands stationary, in position to deliver the cigarette it may becarrying, another -of the cigarette grooves is held in a similarstationary position at the lower open end of the cigarette housing 3, sothat another of the cigarettes 5 may be more readily engaged by andbecome lodged in the said groove. A cigarette filler case 14 isslidingly mounted within the container or housing 3, the said case beingrectangular in cross section, being open at its frontal side as shown at15 so as not to obstruct the view through the window 17 and being alsoopen at its lower end as shown at 16 so as to permit cigarettes to falldirectly therethrough upon the wheel 7. i

In operation the filler case 14 is withdrawn and is nicely filled withcigarettes 5 arranged in even order transversely of the case. Themachine is then turned to a horizontal position and the filler case isthen slid into the housing 3 and so that the cigarettes can be seenthrough the window 17. The machine is then turned upright upon its base,allowing the cigarettes 5 to roll down upon the wheel 7 one of themfalling into one of the accessible grooves 13. Upon then rotating thewheel 7 anti-clockwise by means within the groove 13 will be carried outbeneath the slot 4 of the housing 2, where it may be easily picked up bythe fingers. At the same time another cigarette is being engaged byanother cigarette groove of the wheel 7 within the machine. Thus theprocess may be repeated indefinitely.

Av spring 19 may be set within the container or housing 3 and adapted tobear upon the side of the filler case 14 in order to frictionally holdthe case in position. A strip of sponge 20 may be fastened to the sideof the housing or container 3 as a humidifying element.

Inasmuch as the wheel 7 in the present design of machine shouldberotated only anticlockwise for the delivery of cigarettes one at a time,any conventional means may be employed for preventing the turning of theWheel 7 111 the reverse or clockwise direction,

' as by a gear 21 upon the shaft 8 and a pawl22 mounted upon the housing2' and engaging said gear. Likewise any conventional form of coincontrol mechanism may be incorporated in connection with this machinefor controlling the rotation of the shaft 8, No such mechanism is hereshown but may be made the basis of a separate application.

The wheel 7 may be fluted between the cigarette grooves 13, as shown at23, as means for gently agitating the cigarettes 5 and causing them tomore readily fall into the grooves 13. A lip or apron 2% may be eX-tended inwardly from the lower end of the front face of the housing 3,directly over the wheel 7, as means for preventing the cigarettesbecoming jammed between the wheel 7 and the lower end of the housing 3.

Any desired minor changes may be made within the scope of the appendedclaims, and while the device is here described and claimed as peculiarlyapplicable to the sale and dispensing of cigarettes, it is obvious thatthe principle of the invention may be readily applied to the handling ofother articles of merchandise, such as lead pencils, stick candy andother confections,cigars, and many other articles.

I claim:

1. A cigarette dispensing machine, comprising a wheel housing having atransverse cigarette delivery slot formed through its upper frontalportion, a cigarette wheel journaled within the said wheel housing, acigarette container communicating with the said wheel housing, acigarette'filler case removably positioned in the container, the lowerend of the filler case being formed complementary to the cigarettewheel, a delivery lip on the lower end of the filler case, and aplurality of transverse cigarette grooves adapted to successively alinewith the delivery lip and the cigarette delivery slot.

2. A cigarette dispensing machine, comprising a wheel housing having atransverse cigarette delivery slot formed through its upper frontalportion, a cigarette wheel journaled within the said wheel housing, acigarette container communicating with the said wheel housing, acigarette filler case removably positioned in the container, the lowerend of the filler case being formed complementary to the cigarettewheel, a delivery lip on the lower end of the filler case, a pluralityof transverse cigarette grooves in the said wheel, the sides of thegrooves being inclined in the direction of rotation of the wheel, andthe grooves being positioned in the periphery of the wheel so that whenone of the grooves is alined with the delivery lip, another groove willbe alined with the delivery slot.

3. A cigarette dispensing machine, comprising a wheel housing having atransverse cigarette delivery slot formed through its upper frontalportion, a cigarette wheeljournaled within the said wheel housing, acigarette container communicating with the said wheel housing, acigarette filler case removably positioned in the container, the lowerend of the filler case being formed COmP1G:

mentary to the cigarette wheel, the sides of the filler case beingspaced from the walls of the cigarette container, and a humidifyingelement positioned therebetween.

4. A cigarette dispensing machine coin-'1';

prising a wheel housing having a transverse cigarette delivery slotformed through its upper frontal portion, a cigarette wheel journaledwithin the said wheel housing, a cigarette container communicating withthe said' wheel housing, a cigarette filler case removably positioned inthe container, the lower end of the filler case being formedcomplementary to the cigarette wheel, the filler case being also open atits frontal side and having 1 its side walls spaced from the walls ofthe cigarette container, a humidifying element positioned between thecontainer and the case, an apron extending inwardly from the lower frontface of the container and sup-' porting the filler case, a delivery lipextending inwardly from the lower back face of the filler case, and thesaid wheel having a plurality of cigarette engaging grooves so spacedupon its periphery that as one of said i grooves alines itself with thesaid cigarette delivery slot of the wheel housing another of the grooveswill simultaneously stand positioned in alinement with the delivery lipon the filler case.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

CHRIST K. STAMAS.

